Feeding Frenzy: Seasonal Upwelling: DLESE Teaching Box

Overview of the box

Concepts and Standards

Lessons:

1 Marine food webs &
energy flow

Activities:

1 Making algae grow.

2 Ocean surfaces over time

3 Research a marine organism

4 Introduction to
marine food web

5 Marine food webs

6 Class marine food web

2 Primary production
& upwelling

3 Seasonal upwelling

4 An assessment:
Read all about it!

Online resources

Student Web Page

Teaching Boxes Home

Marine Food Webs and Energy Flow

This lesson begins with an activity in which students set up an experiment to determine the conditions needed for optimum growth of algae. The results of this activity will be used in Lesson 2.

It is followed by five activities in which students are introduced to the complexity of marine food webs. Following an exploration of different levels of ocean activity, students research marine organisms from different trophic levels. Then students use several online resources to learn about food webs and energy flow in a marine ecosystem, discovering that population size depends on the density of organisms at lower trophic levels and the rate of growth and predation of those organisms. Students demonstrate knowledge gained by creating a large pictorial food web (on a bulletin board or wall) based on their research.

Concepts and
learning outcomes

Students will understand that:
Living organisms form complex food webs.

Energy in food webs is transferred from primary producers to consumers.
Decomposers make nutrients from higher tropic levels available to producers.
Phytoplankton form the base of energy pyramids in marine food webs.

Time requirements

Seven to eight 50-minute class periods

Vocabulary

Biotic, abiotic, trophic level, food web, ecosystem, decomposer, consumer, carnivore, primary producer, relaxed ocean, active ocean
See a complete vocabulary list on pages 9-10 of Coastal Ecosystem Curriculum: Food Web.
Note: You may want to print out this vocabulary list for your students to use throughout this unit.

Background for teachers

For complete background information about marine food webs and energy flow, see pages 1-8 of Coastal Ecosystem Curriculum: Food Web.

Activities

1. Making Algae Grow : This is a preliminary activity in which students set up an experiment to determine the conditions needed for optimum growth of algae. The results of this activity will be used in Lesson 2. .
2. Ocean Surfaces Over Time: Students observe activity levels of five ocean surfaces at different times.
3. Research a Marine Organism: Students do research on organisms from different trophic levels.
4. Introduction to Marine Food Webs: Students discover how organisms interact with one another to create food webs.
5. Marine Food Webs: Students learn about food webs and energy flow in a marine ecosystem, discovering that population size depends on the density of organisms at lower trophic levels and the rate of growth and predation of those organisms.
6. Class Marine Food Web: Students demonstrate knowledge gained by creating a large pictorial food web based on their research.

Resources used

Coastal Ecosystem Curriculum: Food Web
http://www.teachingboxes.org/catalog.jsp?id=DLESE-000-000-008-915